Disclaimer:
I solemnly swear that the literature and works of the Harry Potter Verse belong to JK Rowling, Bloomberg and Warner Bros. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Mischief Managed Damn It!
Title: Hogwarts: Modern Warfare
Posted Date: January 10 2021
Tags: Tactical Harry, Ron x Hermione, Badass students, 'Adults are useless' trope, a few Call-Of-Duty references, Possible Harry x Small Multi, Magic mixed with technology combat
The sounds of soft popping echoed in the outskirts of the small village, heralding a small group of people who immediately form a circle and watching their surroundings, theirs hands clutching weapons and what appeared to be actual wands. After checking the area and determining it to be safe, one of them made a signal with his hand and moved onward, prompting the others to follow quickly but silently. They went past the property line and into the woods, each one taking time to wave their wands at something before moving forward. When they were nearing the end of the tree-line, the group split into 5 teams of two and went off in different directions. The apparent leader continued on with his companion until they breached the tree-line and stopped at a small rock feature overlooking the village just as the moon peeked out of the clouds, revealing him and his companion to be wearing dark clothes with armor covering their limbs and chest, along with a jacket patterned with unusual designs and a hood to cover their heads. Adding to that were the smooth copper-colored masks adorning their faces, with only some markings to differentiate from the two. The leader whose marking on his mask was a lightning bolt raised a hand to his neck to grab a pendant and near to his mouth.
"This is Bolt. Cyclops and I are at position and monitoring the front. All teams report status." The pendant glowed before voices started coming out softly.
[This is Badger with Song in East Side. Clear vantage point with direct sight.]
[This is Groot on West Side. Hawkeye taking position as we speak.]
[Centaur present in South Side. Indy is setting up perimeter.]
[Spider and Wasp in position, preparing drop site now.]
"Good. Once you are set up, begin surveillance." Bolt did something to the pendant before continuing. "This is Bolt to Harvest Base, we have arrived at destination safely. Do you hear me, over?"
The sounds of clicking came on before a voice called out from the pendant. [This is Harvest Base. We hear you loud and clear, and we are receiving your location. What is the status?]
"We have arrived at our destination and are currently 200 meters away from the road leading to the building where the juniors are having a get-together. We are about to commence with our surveillance to confirm our initial findings, so far we have no issues." Bolt talked with his eyes on his partner who gave a thumbs up while lying on the ground and pointing what appeared to be a modified sniper rifle at the building in the distance. "We will reply back within 10 minutes upon confirmation of numbers, types and if we are lucky, identities."
[Acknowledged, Bolt. We have two drones homing in on your spot to get better visuals.]
"Much obliged." Bolt gripped his wand tightly as he checked his watch before continuing the surveillance. He did not even need five minutes for the others to reply back their results, while the light chime coming from his mask alerted him to the arrival of their surveillance drones appearing above them in the form of two small orbs with cameras set in both. Bolt pulled out what appeared to be a miniature clipboard and tapped on it, the sudden glow briefly lighting up his mask as he pressed on the letters and symbols to do something. With a final push of the button, the drones moved forward towards the building in silence and splitting in opposite directions, their shapes seemingly blurring before disappearing. With another tap on the screen, the clipboard showed an image of the building they were staking out with what appeared to be heat signatures of the people there with odd colors on them. A quick glance made Bolt very glad to be extra paranoid in insisting his group to be away in a distance, each with their own sniper / watcher and with the wind blowing away from them despite having cleansing charms and scent removal charms placed on them.
"This is Bolt with confirmation of surveillance to all channels. Compound is surrounded with what appears to be a series of wards. The first obvious set are two alert wards placed in intervals of 5 meters outwards from property line, a basic shield ward behind the innermost alert ward, and finally what looks like a mishmash of anti-apparition, anti-portkey and blood wards. The last one might be a case of a dead man's switch, so curse breakers be advised when entering." Bolt manipulated the screen to get a rough three-dimensional view of the building to study the positions of the people in the area.
"Based on heat and magic signatures, we have 25 juniors scattered about the compound on the three levels, 3 of them guarding 10 hostages on the first floor in the barn, with a hidden fourth supposedly to keep an eye on the prisoners. We also have 3 werewolves in the general area, so be advised of their movements. The moon is not full, but their strength will be increased nevertheless." The others acknowledged his orders with one audible groan at the mention of werewolves. "The werewolves are moving about on their own so there is a chance that they are not welcomed by the juniors, so use that to your advantage. If you can take them out without being spotted and ideally away from the juniors, do so."
[Movement detected on South-West. Incoming from the sky.] Groot interrupted with an urgent tone, prompting Bolt to get down on the ground while directing his binoculars at the general direction. Three trails of smoke appeared in the sky and went towards the building, hitting the ground and billowing outwards before three shapes appeared in the form of people dressed in dark robes. A quick focus spell on them showed them wearing masks with snake type decorations, which combined with the smoke meant their stake-out just got more interesting.
"Bolt to all channels. We have three tall-hats joining the party." Bolt manipulated one of the drones to focus on the three new-comers, right as two of the occupants came out of the building to meet them. The drone zoomed in on them as the two reached them and supposedly conversed a bit. One of the 'tall-hats' raised a wand and waved across his face to remove the mask in a trail of smoke to reveal his face.
"Hello, Mister Macnair." Bolt muttered at the image on his screen. "Are you reading this, Harvest Base?"
[We got it loud and clear, Bolt.] There was a definite air of determination, alertness and a hint of smugness on the line. [Looks like this mission is about to get a whole lot more interesting. Five Galleons the other two are the Inner Circle at the least.]
"One way to find out. We need to get those hostages out and take down the Death Eaters, if not tag them in the event they get off on that silly excuse of theirs." Bolt looked at the group of five now heading back to the building.
[Hawkeye reporting. I believe I may have found the person handling the wards.] A female voice sounded through his pendant.
"Show us." The image on the board shifted into a smaller window to allow a second image to take over, showing the building again with emphasis on the third level where two of the residents were standing.
[The guy by the table was idling about when the tall-hats came. He did some gesture with his arm that prompted his companion to check the window before he went down. Now he is checking the area before settling down.] Hawkeye answered as the image demonstrated what she was saying. [From where I am, I think I can get a clear shot at both.]
[Centaur reporting. The wards are basic as stated, but Indy just pointed out that they are going to be a bitch to remove. I think we can remove them or make a big hole quickly, but we will need to go at them at full strength and will be running on fumes afterwards. The ward keeper might be alerted at that point.] Bolt let out a 'tsk' at that reply. Given the scale of the property and the numbers, they could get overwhelmed if they were not careful.
"Bolt to Harvest Base, did you get all that?"
[Affirmative, Bolt. We do have three available teams right now, also Badger Teams One and Two have just returned from their assignments. Do you require additional backup?] Bolt turned to see the group of Death Eaters and the hostages once more before making his decision.
"Yeah, we could use some backup here. Send in those with ward-breaking talents and some attacking power."
[Understood, sending in support. Expected arrival in 2 minutes.]
"Roger." Bolt took a quick glance at the layout of the building before making a decision. "Attention to all, backup is on the way within 2 minutes. Centaur, use the time to prepare what you need to take down the wards. Hawkeye, once the others arrive, if you can get a clear shot, silence the ward-keepers. Snipers, when you can, take down the werewolves first. The rest of us prepare to move in to grab the hostages."
[What about the Death Eaters?]
"This is still a hostage rescue mission; we prioritize them first. If we need to deal with the Death Eaters, we will do so." Bolt paused before continuing. "If we are to engage, take no chances, they will aim to kill. We have to be prepared to do the same. Is that understood?"
[Affirmative / Got it / Loud and Clear / Oh yeah~] Bolt decided to ignore that last one and returned to watching the area until his backup arrived a few minutes later. After a quick back-and-forth to check their identities, Bolt was satisfied with both the checks and the selection of backup.
"So, what is the plan?" Asked the apparent leader of the backup ten-men team who was a lot taller than Bolt, with the marking of a horse head on his mask and a bow in his hands.
"We have three tall-hats, a few juniors, hostages and a few wards to deal with, Sagittarius. I need one of your ward-breakers to assist Centaur and Indy in taking down the wards. Hawkeye will be handling the ward-keepers while Groot, Cyclops and Song are checking the area. With Spider and Wasp handling extraction, the rest of us deal with extracting the hostages." Bolt proceeded to project the image on the screen in mid-air as a three-dimensional model. "We got three guarding the barn openly, and a fourth hidden among the hostages. Ideally, we will enter the compound by the side and take down the three outside and the hidden fourth at the same time without much commotion. We will think about the rest once the hostages are removed. For the time being, can you stick around to coordinate with the others outside so that we can get an escape route?"
"Roger." Sagittarius motioned with his hand to direct the necessary people to their spots, those joining Bolt moved together towards the compound silently. As they neared the ward-lines, Bolt spied the werewolf nearest to them pausing to turn only to collapse from a silver arrow to the neck.
[Target neutralized. / Target removed / Sentry out / Ward keepers neutralized. You are good to go.]
"Excellent work. Watch our six." Bolt complemented as they got to the ward lines with the ward breakers working to remove them or make a hole for them to pass. They were able to make quick work out of them, but Bolt was glad to have asked for extra hands as Centaur, Indy and the other breaker were getting tired out from the work. Bolt made sure that these three stayed put with a couple of guards when they entered the compound to let them rest and to server as extra eyes on the area with the drones. The rest quietly made their way to the barn and stopped at the site of the three guards outside.
"We are going to need to take these three out, but the fourth inside is the problem. We cannot let them sound the alarm." Bolt use the drone provided to point out the impostor.
"I say we should just knock them all them out, hostages and the hidden guard." One of the others held out a glass orb with a light blue mist. "This way we do not have to worry about them panicking and giving away our position. One whiff of this and they will be out in a minute." Bolt looked to at the image again before nodding.
"We time it together, less chance of issues." Bolt directed the majority to deal with the guards and set up silencing wards while the one handling the orb got to the nearby window. "Execute in 3, 2, 1… now!" the orb was thrown just as three of the fighters fired off a red colored spell that knocked the guards out at the same time. Bolt was very grateful that the others put up the silencing wards as the hostages briefly screamed before falling silent. Checking the front door for alarms, the group opened the door slowly to find the people inside on the ground unconscious. One of them quickly stepped forward to check the pulse of the nearest hostage before nodding and giving a thumbs up.
"Okay, load them up." Bolt directed the group to move the hostages while he and another went to grab the one they knew to be the impostor, a woman dressed in civilian clothing. Bolt bent down and ripped the sleeve off the left arm of the shirt before tapping the arm with his wand, the arm glowing briefly before a tattoo of a skull with a snake coming out of the mouth appeared.
"That's the one. Bring her to the other site for interrogation." The teammate closest to him cuffed her and disappeared with her while the others gathered the hostages into a loose pile and tied a rope around them before they disappeared in the same manner.
"What about the other three?" His companion with a star on the mask asked.
"We still need some targets to see if the formula works." Bolt answered while he looked at his crew who had tied up the three guards and removed their sleeves to reveal their dark marks. One of them took out a spray can and released its contents on them, while a second grabbed the bottles of fire-whisky to spill on their robes before adding a couple of drops of something from a potion he took out. As they finished with the set up and tying the trio together, Bolt took out the amulet to talk again.
"Bolt to Spider and Harvest Base, have you received our packages?"
[Spider here. All hostages accounted for. Sending them to the drop off site for quick checks before bringing them to isolation site.]
[This is Harvest Base. We have obtained the death junior on our end and bringing her to isolation cell for processing. I see you have tagged the three?]
"We just finished tagging the three with the tracker virus and setting up the scene. Are you getting visuals?"
[We are getting them all right, the three had appeared immediately. We are just getting the names as we speak. Looks like it is working for now.]
"The real test would be when they meet others." Bolt nodded while inwardly proud at the success of tagging. "In that case, we can now…"
[Movement in the main house, Inner Circle and juniors coming your way!] Groot's voice interrupted the channels urgently, directing Bolt's attention to the main house. He cursed as he spied the people leaving the house and moving to the barn.
"Contact! Everyone take cover!" All of them took up positions behind whatever was available while reinforcing their cover or conjuring stone walls to block. Bolt took out his sidearm along with his wand and aimed at the ones from the middle. "On my signal, take down the front most and sides. Snipers, if you can get a shot, take out the Inner Circle. Weapons hot!" Everyone gripped their respective arms tightly and waited until the front most Death Eater came around the fence, likely one of the more eager juniors wanting to make a mark. After the fourth person, Bolt gave the signal.
"FIRE!" A torrent of spells was unleashed upon the Death Eaters, catching a good many off guard and dropping them to the ground unconscious or in pain from what transfiguration or curses that hit them. Unfortunately, the seniors were more experienced and alert, immediately conjuring up their own set of walls while summoning the closest juniors to save them from their recklessness. That would have been more effective if not for the snipers on the outside that were now taking potshots at them.
"Confringo! Expulso! Tondedite! Stupefy!" Bolt and his crew leveled multiple spells that caused the area to explode or to be cut down while sickly red spells came from the Death Eaters. So far things were going well for them as they managed to take out the bulk of the attackers and summoned those closest to bind them, but the remainder were putting up a good fight with the seniors deciding to up the ante and apparate all over the area to take them unawares, with only the snipers helping to deter them.
"Things are getting quite nasty here!" One of them called out only to yelp and ducked as a green beam missed her head by an inch and burned the beam behind her. "They are throwing Avadas now!"
"Everyone, you may go all out!" That set the tone for the rest who proceeded to unleash more of their arsenal, those with actual guns doing something to the weapons before firing off actual bullets or different colored spells. Bolt managed to take down five juniors when the hair on his neck stood upright. On pure instinct, Bolt dived to his left just as a flame whip cut through the stone wall he had conjured up, did a roll on the ground and turned on his feet to find his attacker.
"So you are the one leading this crew." The Death Eater that towered over Bolt sneered as he lifted his wand and swung the whip again. Bolt conjured up some steel poles while diving to the side again, letting the fire whip wrap around the poles to stop the movement as he lifted his gun and fired at the Death Eater. To his credit, the Death Eater did not bother with maintaining the whip and immediately conjured up a steel wall to block the shots, having seen what they had done to his own men. Bolt cursed inwardly as the Death Eater took the chance to fire off another curse at him while casting a spell that blocked the others from helping him. "You are all mine, vermin."
"That goes the same for me." Bolt alternated spells from his wand and bullets from his gun to try and offset the Death Eater attacking him, only hitting him through cuts and grazes. Seeing that they were not working as well as he hoped, Bolt took a chance to fire a prank spell to make the ground slippery, causing the Death Eater to slip with a yelp and for one of Bolt's spells to hit his mask making it chip off.
"Hello there, Dion Rowle." Bolt mused as the man in question got up from the ground, his rather gaunt face turning red from the exertion, embarrassment and rage with a trail of blood coming from the cut on the left eyebrow. "At least you helped me win a bet that at least two of your family is in league with Voldemort. Though your brother would have to be the lucky one considering he is the Inner Circle and not you."
"You dare to speak his name so freely! You must be a Mudblood, especially since you are using that metal wand!" Dion seethed and threw a spell at Bolt who merely sidestepped to let it past him. "I will enjoy making you scream for mercy."
"Oh for god's sake." Even with the mask on, it was clear from the tone that Bolt rolled his eyes at the proclamation. "Do you guys have scripts to follow? Like that is so overused, do you have anything original?"
"You want original?" Dion raised his wand and yelled angrily "Here is something original for you!" Dion did something with the wand that summoned all the broken wood and stone around and crushed together to form an amalgam of a hound that loomed over Bolt like a creature from hell. The creature looked at Bolt with empty sockets and roared loudly, before raising a limb and taking a swipe at Bolt, tearing up chunks of the ground as he dodged. Bolt stood up and looked at the creation with his head tilted to the side.
"Compensating for something?" Bolt quipped before leaping back from the creation trying to bite him. Bolt fired off a blasting charm to break off one of the limbs to slow it down and taking the chance to fire off spells at Dion who kept shielding himself from the attacks. Bolt did not get much chance to continue as the creature rebuilt the limb from the materials around it and proceeded to attack, managing to hit him by the tips of its claws and sending him crashing to the ground.
"HA! Not so tough, are you?" Dion mockingly asked while firing off Avadas at Bolt. The hunter merely rolled backwards and cracked his neck to loosen his bones, before unleashing an entire arsenal of spells from both his wand and gun at both targets, forcing Dion into the corner to defend himself while his creation got totally peppered by the spells and crumbling a fair amount. Using the moment to get some breathing room, Bolt then fired off a shield smasher followed by a cutting spell and a banishing charm to destroy Dion's shield, cut down his wand, and sent him flying against the barn wall. Without letting Dion finish his growl, Bolt directed the gun at the regenerating creature, pressed a button with his thumb, before pulling the trigger as the creature roared and leaped at him.
'BBOOMM!'
Bolt barely twitched as the creation crumbled about him, having lost its head from the beam that sliced it in half first before the rest of the body disintegrated into dust. Bolt did enjoy the look of shock on Dion's face for a moment before stunning him hard, letting him fall into a pile of manure that was in the corner.
"Ooh~ That's going to stain his robes, not to mention stinking to hell." He turned to find his team walking over, having broken the ward that cordoned them off while a couple of the others dealt with the others. "Good thing we are not bringing him back to base."
"Role Call." Bolt called out to them while spinning the gun by the trigger and holstering it by the side, waiting for everyone to respond to ensure they were safe. "Everyone okay? Any injuries?"
"Aside from scrapes and bruising, we are not dead, which is good. The Death Eaters are losing limbs at worst, but none are dead." Sagittarius answered his query. "Remind me to thank the ladies for incorporating the dragon hide to our suits, that last fellow I dealt with fired off a reducto to my chest point blank." He pointed at the rubble around them while rubbing his chest. "Was that the disintegration spell bullet?"
"It is, and it works like a charm." Bolt nodded while looking about "Research team is going to be pleased with the results and be able to phase it to the rest of you."
"Yeah, those guys would be pleased, along with a certain exotic girl we know will want to thank you really well." The others around him chuckled at that remark. Bolt merely shook his head and cast a spell to lift Dion from the pile and to the rest, carelessly dropping him so that the manure stains would touch the others. Removing the Death Eater's left sleeve, Bolt sprayed the solution on the tattoo before getting up and grabbing his amulet.
"Bolt to Harvest Base and perimeter teams. Targets have been neutralized, role call has been performed. No casualties on our end, we are now prepping for cleanup and extraction. Over."
[Good to hear that, Bolt. Be advised that Aurors are now on the way, ETA 7 minutes.]
"Understood. Cleaning up now." Bolt turned to the others while switching the communication channels. "Attention to all, the Ministry Aurors are on their way. Get everything fixed and cleared in five so that we can clear out by the evacuation point. Non-essential staff will leave first, followed by the rest of us. Understood?"
"Roger!" The team proceeded to remove whatever they had created and stunned the death eaters for good measure, removing their masks to reveal their identities before majority of the group popped out audibly, leaving Bolt, Sagittarius and a couple of others. One of the remaining personnel took out a camera to photograph the death eaters to get their faces along with their exposed arms, before he left in the same manner.
"We are cutting it close." The last teammate checked his watch.
"I will deal with the magical signatures. Can you deal with the portkey trails?" Bolt turned to Sagittarius who nodded and used his wand to begin a complicated pattern while holding up a stone that started glowing. Bolt on the hand began to chant a spell in a different language while moving his wand in a somewhat hypnotic pattern.
"One minute." The third teammate counted down the time while looking around the area to ensure the Aurors or any reinforcements did not come to them. Out of the three, he was notably the most nervous given the twitches and how he kept tapping his feet.
"I got the portkey trails contained." Sagittarius announced holding up the stone that was now shining brightly.
"I have erased all of our magical signatures." Bolt lowered his wand and pulled out a rope for them to grab on. "Time?"
"Just right. Moving in 5, 4, 3, 2…" The third member counted down while Sagittarius started gripping the glowing stone, creating cracks from the pressure.
"1!" The stone broke into dust as the trio disappeared with a soft pop. Barely a second later, multiple pops resounded as a group red-hooded people appeared in the area, staring at the group of tied up Death Eaters.
~ooOOoo~
"You guys took your time." Groot was the first one to speak when the trio appeared at the designated point, which was an old warehouse a few miles from their earlier location. "Personnel of Harvest Team had left already."
"There were a lot of magic trails to get rid of." Sagittarius quipped while Bolt motioned to the other to leave them and checked the status of the operation. "And I had to time it such that our own trail does not get detected."
"We got out on time though, Aurors appeared barely a second after we left." Bolt paused to give them an update. "The others are now back at Home Base getting processed, let's head back."
"Good thing I went ahead to sanitize this place before you guys." Groot held out his own glowing stone. "Let's go." With that, they left in the same manner as earlier, this time appearing in a 10 by 10 feet room that had no obvious openings and four cameras by the corners. They waited for a few seconds before a mechanized voice echoed about.
[Presence detected, please wait for processing. Scanning personnel now.]
A light mist of water issued from the top of the room and descended on them, lightly covering their bodies with the droplets while a beam of light appeared from the wall and scanned them upwards. After a while, their bodies glowed a light green as the emission system stopped and the voice came back on.
[Scan complete, no obvious signs of tracking spells, compulsions and portkey charms. Detecting no traces of polyjuice or glamours. Identities confirmed, welcome back Agents Bolt, Sagittarius and Groot. You may proceed.]
"No matter how many times we do this, that is still very cool." Sagittarius commented as the outline of a door appeared with a light hissing sound and opened up to allow them through.
"Who says movies have to remain fiction in real life?" Bolt chuckled as they walked out of the room and through a corridor that split at the end. "Okay, you guys go ahead. I need to check with Oracle and Chess-master on the tracking of the DE. You guys check with the others and relax, later we will gather for a debriefing." The two saluted and moved off to the right, leaving Bolt to go down the left path and to a door at the end. Taking out his wand, Bolt inserted it into a hole and pulsed a light charm before the door clicked and he walked through to find a buzz of activity as the people inside went about their business. Many of them spotted him and waved at him as he walked past, him nodding in reply while he reached the end of the room where a team of eight were seated looking at screens and a few blank pieces of parchment stuck to the wall.
"So how is our time?" The redhead closest to him turned with a grim smile and narrowed eyes.
"Pretty good, considering the numbers. But we could improve the timing by five minutes." Bolt nodded as he removed the hood and reached for the clips by the side of his mask. With a couple of clicks and sounds of hissing, the mask came off to reveal the youthful face of a male teenager around fifteen years with hair cut neatly and short to keep it clean, the notable features of his face being the emerald green eyes and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.
"How about the tracking virus, is it working on the others yet?" Bolt asked the girl next to him.
"The trace is on, Harry. We already have the earlier three, and two others had appeared while you were sanitizing the area. We are just waiting for the remainder to appear on the map." The girl pushed back her bushy brown hair as she spoke. "But what we can tell is that the response Aurors have one spy among them, the potion is doing the trick to spread the virus. Give it an hour and we will be getting the first set of names."
"Very good. Keep an eye on it Hermione." Bolt, or rather Harry, turned back to the burly redhead. "What about our guest?"
"She is still knocked out, but now in isolation. We did take a while to remove the portkey and the tracking spells on her." The redhead pointed a thumb over his shoulder in a general direction. "Her wand, clothes and the portkey are being examined for any clues to their base."
"Very good Ron. We will be debriefing later, right now the rest are getting checked over." Harry nodded his thanks.
"You should also get checked, you did take a hit." Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Got it. I just want to check up on the status first." Harry raised his arms before pausing "Oh right, the new disintegration spell bullet works great, though the kickback could be reduced a little. It is not really a problem, just my observation on it."
"Oh great, we have been working on that for some time." Hermione beamed as she took a note of it. "We can work out the bugs on that, for now we can start getting it to the rest." She pointed a pen at his face with a stern expression. "Now go and get checked this instance."
"Yes madam, understood madam." Harry mocked saluted before yelping as Hermione delivered a stinging hex to his behind, causing the others around to laugh at him in good nature.
Mission accomplished.
~ooOOoo~
"Looks like we are going to have a long night again." Auror Johnson sniffed as he looked at the sorry bunch of Death Eaters in the cells. "Not looking forward to the paperwork."
"Nor the potential missus or girlfriends coming along to tell us to 'release our husbands or fiancees, they were obviously Imperiused'." His partner, Auror Creed, rolled his eyes as he got ready for the night shift. "Honestly, it feels like we are going nowhere with the arrests, we bagged the bad guys only for them to walk within hours."
"These are the people who are 'great friends' with the Minister." Auror Johnson came back to the desk and grabbed a chair. "People who are 'outstanding citizens of society' who obviously must be the good guys." Johnson snorted loudly at that. "Good guys who liked to line his pockets with gold and help with his election."
"Shh! Be careful man." Creed placed a finger to his lips while looking around nervously and casting detection and privacy charms around them. "Last thing we need is for people to send us out on our behinds for that."
"Sorry." Johnson took out his wand and added to the charms before continuing "But you know it is true, and honestly it does not feel like our side is dealing with this well."
"I hear you." Creed paused to look again before speaking even softer, as though he was afraid that people could still hear him with the spells. "To be frank, I actually feel that we ought to thank whoever has been dealing with these Death Eaters for us, not go and arrest them for doing our jobs. This is the fourth time now; they obviously know these scum will get away with the current laws."
"True, and really, it feels like Madam Bones is the only one in the Ministry actually wanting to deal with these bastards. She has to give an official word on this, considering how the Minister and even Dumbledore is asking about the attackers." Johnson leaned back in his chair.
"What do you think though?" Creed asked.
"About what?"
"About Dumbledore and You-Know-Who coming back." Creed looked at the cells containing the Death Eaters with a troubled expression. "Dumbledore said that he is back, but the Minister is claiming it is not. These guys appear in their robes, but they may get off because of the Minister or even Dumbledore with his whole second chance routine."
"Didn't Fudge try to use the Prophet to smear both Dumbledore and Potter?" Johnson asked, knowing the newspaper as the unofficial mouth of the Ministry.
"They tried, but the weird thing is within the week Potter came writing to the editor that he had not once stated anything about You-Know-Who returning or talked with Dumbledore on it. He even provided memories of him fighting just the Death Eater who had kidnapped him and killed that Diggory boy, and the meeting of him, Dumbledore and Fudge. Nowhere was it shown that he got attacked by You-Know-Who. So in the sense, Potter is currently on the outs with Dumbledore, and considering how the paper is targeting the old professor, I get the feeling Fudge is going to try and get Potter on his side if not declare neutral in this fight."
"Whatever the case, things are going to get real interesting." Johnson grabbed a quill and looked at the cells one more time with a glare. "Come on, we better write the reports before the people start coming to demand their release." Creed sighed as he grabbed his quill and they began their paperwork, not realizing that this was merely the beginning.